"One of the finest 1980s action movies made in the twenty-first century."

Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT THE 2015 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: "Turbo Kid" seemed to be on the fast track to being a cult hit well before its release; folks seemed keen on the short film produced as part of a contest connected to "ABCs of Death" and it seemed to get plenty of early buzz looking for funding and production partners as part of the Fantasia Festival's FrontiĂ¨res co-production market and had people looking forward to it for a year or two. A hero's welcome for the Quebec production was not unexpected at its Montreal premiere; but tat the movie actually is the sort of cheerfully gory retro-sci-fi blast intended is kind of a pleasant surprise." (more)

"A highly entertaining take on picking up the pieces after being possessed."

Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT THE 2015 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: Three years ago at this festival, I raved about Jordan Galland's superhero comedy "Alter Egos" in part out of surprise; it worked its alternate Earth scenario better than a lot of films of its sort and built a remarkably solid cast of characters for a sort of spoof movie. With "Ava's Possessions", he does the same thing with the demonic possession genre and turns another high concept into a pretty charming comedy." (more)

Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT THE 2015 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: I'm mildly curious how big a part a secondary character had in the original book; after an amusing introduction (and fairly high billing), he gets streamlined right in the background. It's the right choice - this is a story about people involved in a crime rather than those investigating it, and while that material can be a bit uneven, but when it hits, the results are fairly impressive." (more)

Peter Sobczynski says... "There have only been a handful of film franchises that have been lucky enough to earn a fifth go-around in theaters and in nearly every one of those cases, a certain degree of artistic ennui has inevitably set in as the filmmakers, more often than not, are merely rejiggering things that have worked in the past instead of taking the time to come up with something fresh and entertaining. The results have, for the most part, been fairly dire--"A Good Day to Die Hard," "Star Trek V" and any number of horror titles one could mention to name just a few. (Hell, even the James Bond series, a franchise as durable as one could possibly hope for, had its first stumble with its official fifth installment, the semi-disappointing "You Only Live Twice.") Oh sure, I am certain that we could come up with a couple of films that buck that particular tide--"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" comes to mind (though anyone calling "The Empire Strikes Back" "Episode V" is going to get [i]such[/i] a pinch)--but such things are pretty much a rarity. Now there are plenty of reasons to love "Mission: Impossible--Rogue Nation," the fifth in the incredibly lucrative and surprisingly durable string of films spun off from the popular Sixties-era espionage television series--the smart writing, the good performances and the breathlessly exciting action set-pieces that have been its hallmark since Brian De Palma had Tom Cruise dangling from the ceiling of CIA headquarters in the 1996 original--but the most significant one is that it is that rare late entry in a long-established series that is still acting as if it has something to prove instead of lazily resting on its laurels. Like "Mad Max: Fury Road" from earlier this summer, a lot of care and effort clearly went into making this film and the result is the best franchise film to come along the line since. . . well, since "Fury Road."" (more)

Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT THE 2015 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: "Cop Car" opens by dropping enough swearwords that even parents who missed the R rating might consider pulling their kids out, which is both necessary and a bit of a pity. A family-friendly take on the story could have been fun, although staying true to where writer/director Jon Watts sees the story creates something just as entertaining and probably more thrilling." (more)

"Your mission Mr. McQuarrie, should you accept it, is to improve a franchise"

alejandroariera says... "â€śMission: Impossibleâ€ť is that rare Hollywood franchise that improves with each entry. The original â€śMission: Impossible,â€ť directed by Brian de Palma, built an incomprehensible plot about the theft of a computer file with the names of Americaâ€™s top secret agents around the filmâ€™s massive action set-pieces. Its sequel, directed by John Woo, featured all of the filmmakerâ€™s trademark visual style (balletic slo-mo gunfights, pigeons flapping their wings also in slo-mo before all hell broke loose) without any of the poignancy or dramatic heft of his best Hong Kong-set films." (more)

Jay Seaver says... "SCREENED AT THE 2015 FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: "Catch Me Daddy" opens with a poem/folk tale about its Yorkshire setting, fitting enough but a bit surprising, as the story is driven by people and traditions that arrived in the UK from elsewhere. On the other hand, it's a movie where the heroine is at least second-generation and fairly well-assimilated, probably feeling that present location is more important that old customs herself." (more)

"This column has been on hiatus for a few weeks but is now back with a collection of titles that includes both a number of cult favorites and some of the best films to hit theaters so far this year. After all, who needs that Harper Lee nonsense when you can spend your time watching the majesty that is "Stone Cold"?" (more)